Actual trading
The store's order table showed no decline over the period
E-commerce / Case study
Both ad platforms reported a 70% collapse. The order table disagreed.
Direct-to-consumer motorcycle parts brand (name withheld). Analytics & Conversion Tracking.
Analytics & Conversion TrackingBIGSHARK / CASE RECORD
Flat to upActual trading
The store's order table showed no decline over the period
Direct-to-consumer motorcycle parts brand (name withheld)
The challenge.
In a single week, Google Ads and Meta independently reported that revenue had fallen by roughly 70%. Two separate platforms agreeing on a catastrophic number is the point at which most agencies cut spend the same afternoon.
What we did.
We did not act on the dashboards. We pulled the store's own order table for the same period and reconciled it line by line against what the platforms were claiming. The orders showed the business was flat to slightly up. The reported collapse was a measurement failure, not a trading one, and the campaigns were left alone while the tracking was fixed.
Spend cut in response
No campaign was paused or reduced on the false signal
Root cause
The conversion tag pointed at a cancelled account, so no purchase had ever been tracked
The details
that mattered.
- Reconcile platform-reported revenue against the store ledger before acting
- Treat a sudden collapse reported by two platforms as a tracking hypothesis first
- Audit the conversion tag's destination account, not just its presence on the page
Source: BigShark’s existing case record. Scope and reporting window are stated where recorded. Results describe this engagement and do not predict future performance.